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I pulled into the parking lot that was reserved in the back for EMS and saw several people excitedly pointing at me as I got out. Voices, all jumbled up together in the distance, all seemed to be pointing me out and talking. I tried to smile a bit and waved.
Inside was a million times more insane.
The station was crowded, full of people and cameras and security personnel. Young people in smart suits with tablets arguing with each other in that way where they never stop smiling seemed to indicate that they were political staffers. The firemen themselves stood in the background, watching everything with a combination of mild amusement and frustration at their normal evening routine being interrupted.
The chief greeted me near the door and pulled me into his office. He was smiling.
It looked really weird.
“Kieran, good evening. There are quite a lot of cameras here. I wanted to warn you.”
“Yeah, they were outside, too,” I said.
“Oh. Right,” Chief said. “Well, the governor will be here any minute now, and they would like you to say a few words to the media when they’re done meeting with you. Just general stuff, you know.”
“Ok,” I said.
“Duggan, this looks really good for the department. Your job was to come here and whip these boys into shape, and not only have you done a marvelous job of that so far, but you found yourself the center of a heroic story.”
“I—” I began, trying to object to the whole H-word stuff.
“Heroic,” he said again. “That’s the word the media are using, and frankly, it’s true. Now, when the governor gets here and the mayor is here, we’ll do a little thing for the cameras, and then the mayor and I would like to talk for a little bit. Alright? Don’t go anywhere.”
“Yes, sir.”
With that, he clapped me on the back hard enough to make me take a half step forward from the impact and walked out of his office. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I wasn’t the kind of guy who liked a whole bunch of attention. It was more my speed to do my job and lead others to do the same. This whole thing with cameras was not exactly my favorite thing in the world.
I walked out of the office and directly into an impossibly young-looking staffer with a cell phone in one hand and a tablet in the other. He dodged me without looking up and kept going. Another was right behind him, this time a girl who looked like she might even still be in high school but also sporting the technology uniform of political staffers. She looked up briefly, looked back down at her phone, and then stopped in her tracks.
“Wait,” she said, almost tripping over her feet. “Are you Kyle Duncan?”
“Kieran Duggan,” I said.
“Right. Kieran Duncan.”
“Duggan.”
“Duggan,” she repeated, seeming frustrated at the correction rather than the fact that she kept getting it wrong.
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“Why aren’t you outside with the governor?”
“No one told me to be?” I ventured.
She rolled her eyes, sighing heavily, and then put on the bright fake smile that people of every political stripe used.
“If you could just come with me!”
It wasn’t a question. It was a statement by someone who ran events like this a hundred times a week and could barely perceive a life where things weren’t done for the sake of PR. I followed her as closely as I could, but she managed to zip through the crowds of reporters much easier than I could being smaller and faster.
Every reporter I passed did the same slow turn of recognition, but by the time they knew who I was, I was past them and on to someone else. My name, both correctly and incorrectly shouted out, could be heard behind me as I made my way out of a side door we rarely used and onto the back lawn, where a makeshift stage had been set up with a microphone.
Sure enough, the governor, who I vaguely recognized from his ads on TV, and a person that I assumed was the mayor were standing next to the chief. I walked onto the stage, and the governor greeted me warmly, holding out a hand for a shake and smiling broadly. Then he just paused, frozen in place as he turned his head toward the reporters. I realized he was stopping for a photo op, and I awkwardly turned my head as well.
The snap of cameras taking pictures filled the air for a few seconds, silencing everything else. Then the governor turned to me and motioned to a place beside him at the podium. Nodding, I took my place on the other side of the mayor and the chief.
The next few minutes were kind of a blur. There was a little speech by both politicians and then a recognition of Chief McDaniel. Then I was ushered in front of the cluster of microphones, and reporters started shouting questions. The only one I remembered later was the one asking me how it felt to be a hero.
